by LaoAdmin | Nov 29, 2017 | What We Do
In the ongoing efforts of the Lao Assistance Center to educate our community members about the dangers of smoking we have recently enlisted the services of local Lao Americans in the Twin Cities Metropolitan regional area to help us innovate, create and share videos and other media across the internet and in our community for the purpose of education. Please help us welcome Kelly Huang and Kerry Fongthavisay!
Kerry Fongthavisay is an alumni of University of Minnesota, a former present and advisor of U of M Lao Student Association. She has been a community volunteer for a few years, has been apart of organizing the Lao Heritage Foundation Music Camp and Lao Writers Summit in San Diego. Kerry was apart of a art project under Saymoukda to collect Lao Folk Stories and rewrite them. She soon discovered one of her passions is for writing and for stories.
Kelly Huang is a Lao/Chinese American filmmaker in the Minneapolis area. She’s mostly known for her documentary films. She’s also a full-time Video Producer at a tech startup, a part-time wedding videographer, a part-time production assistant for a community TV station and part-time travel blogger (it’s her new found hobby).
We look forward to seeing their results in the coming months ahead!
by LaoAdmin | Nov 22, 2017 | What We Do
ໃບຄຳຮ້ອງຂໍໃຫ້ຮັຖ ຊວ່ຍຄ່າໄຟຟ້າ ເເກັສ ໃນຮະດູຫນາວປີນີ້ ເປີດຮັບສມັກເເລ້ວ ສເພາະສຳຮັບ ຜູ້ທີ່ມີຮາຍໄດ້ຕໍ່າ ເທົ່ານນັ້ນ. ໃບສະມັກເເລະຕ້ອງການຊວ່ຍປະກອບເອກກະສານໃຫ້ ຕິດຕໍ່ທີ່ສູນກາງ ຊວ່ຍເຫືລອລາວຮັຖມິນນີໂຕ. 2017-2018 Energy Assistance Program Applications Now Available. The cold weather is here! CAP-HC is accepting applications for the 2017-2018 Energy Assistance Program (EAP) season. EAP is a federally-funded program that provides financial assistance to low income households to help them maintain electricity and heat during the winter months.
Assistance is available to all eligible Hennepin County residents, including the City of Minneapolis.
by LaoAdmin | Nov 22, 2017 | What We Do
Have you participated in an activity or event sponsored by the AAPIs Beyond Bars Coalition? If you have, they want your feedback as they plan for building a more powerful movement to end the school-to-prison-to deportation pipeline! Please share your feedback by taking a short survey.
The survey asks about your interactions with the AAPIs Beyond Bars Coalition over the past two years, the impact of the Coalition on your work, and your thoughts on future activities/priorities for the Coalition’s work
by LaoAdmin | Nov 22, 2017 | What We Do
The MinnPost recently had an article addressing why gambling is a problem in the Lao community. We recently became part of a research initiative, funded by Northstar Problem Gambling Alliance (NPGA) and the Minnesota Department of Human Services. The program examines gambling addiction in the community and provides support services to affected individuals and their family. For more information please visit the Lao Assistance Center.
by LaoAdmin | Nov 22, 2017 | What We Do
Need help with quite smoke, please feel free to contact the Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota, Quitplan, and your health care provider. ຕ້ອງການຊວ່ຍເຫລືອເລີກສູບຢາ ຕິດຕໍ່ໄດ້ທີ່ສູນກາງຊວ່ຍເຫລືອລາວ ຮັຖມິນນີໂຊຕາ, Quitplan, ຫລື ສອບຖາມນຳເເພທ ປະຈຳຄອບຄົວຂອງທ່ານ. https://www.facebook.com/quitplan/ or visit https://www.quitplan.com/
by LaoAdmin | Nov 22, 2017 | What We Do
The Lao Assistance Center is raising funds this year to help expand our program areas and support for Lao American families in Minnesota in 2018. Please consider donating!
Established in 1983, the Lao Assistance Center has helped Minnesota’s 12,000 Lao American refugees and their families to rebuild their lives in the US. We need your support to continue and expand our good work in many program areas including family stability and community health, housing, employment, elder services, civic engagement, academic support, traditional art and culture.
Minnesota has the 3rd largest Laotian population and is one of the only states with organizations committed to assisting resettlement. At least half of the Lao reside in Hennepin County. The city of Minneapolis has the largest Lao population, followed by Brooklyn Park and other surrounding Twin Cities suburbs. Several other areas have sizeable Lao populations: Olmsted County, Nobles County, Roseau County and Stearns County, as well as Mountain Lake, Warroad and St. Cloud. The Lao are the 6th largest community in Minnesota, and form a community the size of Worthington or Monticello. 70% live in Hennepin County, and 7,000 live in North Minneapolis.
Approximately 200,000 ethnic Lao refugees in the US in the aftermath of the war for control of Laos (1954-1975). This war killed, maimed and displaced over half a million people. Lao who supported the US were resettled with little support. 40 years later, nearly a third live at the federal poverty level. Many are women widows, elders and single mothers with limited education and English fluency. Nearly 50% of Lao refugees are under 18, and less than 7% have bachelor’s degrees. 42% have less than a high school diploma. Less than 1 in 100 has an advanced degree, particularly among Lao women.
With our award-winning staff, the Lao Assistance Center has built constructive partnerships over the decades that includes work with Vietnamese Social Services, Southeast Asian Community Council, the Harrison Neighborhood Association and Northwest Hennepin Human Services Council to provide cultural-specific services to at-risk Lao families. We refer clients to numerous schools, clinics, employers, lawyers, government services and the media. We’re asking you to help us continue this journey because it’s an opportunity to share in positive work that yields tangible, ongoing results.
At the Lao Assistance Center, our services are distinctive for a strategic commitment to personalized, professional, and culturally adaptive approaches to resolve client needs, training them in key skills to help themselves and others, building greater community capacity. We were a member of a national social action/ capacity-building consortium supported by Asian Pacific Islanders In Philanthropy focusing on gender equity. Key community outreach campaigns of ours have included Hepatitis B, Chemical Health Awareness, Gambling Addiction, HDTV Conversion, Breast Cancer Awareness, APIA Voter Registration, and Census 2010. We need your support to reach more in our community through innovative techniques that bring a community-centered, intentional, and intergenerational model of support to the forefront.
Thank you for considering support of us!
